HONOLULU – Was anyone still actually surprised to see the Aztecs stretched to overtime against Hawaii?

I’m not.

The only consistent thing about this Aztecs team is how it’s played to the level of its opponent all year.

So from that standpoint, of course the Aztecs needed overtime to beat a winless team 28-21. They wouldn’t have it any other way.

This win felt a lot like the ones they rung up on Air Force – then winless in the FBS – and New Mexico State. Yes, they rallied at the end, and yes Rocky Long will preach how there’s no such thing as an ugly win.

But really, it wasn’t pretty at all.

Here’s how I think they graded out.

OFFENSE

Grade: C+

In a word, the Aztecs’ offense was ineffective for most of the evening.

SDSU’s offensive line was no match for Hawaii’s pass rushers, and Quinn Kaehler spent much of the night getting smacked around.

Kaehler was sacked twice in the first half, and was hurried on just about every pass. He went into the locker room at half time 9 of 21 for 144 yards – a third of which came on his 56-yard touchdown pass to Colin Lockett.

Hawaii finished with eight quarterback hurries – and several of those could have resulted in sacks if Kaehler hadn’t gotten rid of the ball.

The offense also committed a galling number of turnovers. A botched snap (SDSU’s second in two games) accounted for one. Ezell Ruffin fumbled after he was hit while trying to gain yardage on the end of a catch, and Dylan Denso was also charged with a fumble late in the game when Hawaii hit hard enough as he came down with the ball that it popped loose.

Can’t fault kids for trying to make plays, but they need to take better care of the football, especially Ruffin, when he’s trying to pick up yardage.

True to form, the Aztecs’ running backs once again came through in the clutch. D.J. Pumphrey and Adam Muema each came up with a touchdown. Pumphrey had a 30-yard scoring run in the third quarter that really got SDSU going, but Muema went into beast mode late in the game and started churning yardage. Without him, I wonder what the Aztecs would have done in the overtime period. He broke runs of 11 and 12 yards, then busted into the end zone for the score.

DEFENSE

Grade: A

SDSU’s defense played another terrific game and kept the team in the mix throughout despite the offense’s struggles.

From Josh Gavert’s interception, all the way to Eric Pinkins’ timely sack in overtime, the Aztecs’ defense really got after the Warriors.

They did well to pressure Hawaii quarterback Sean Schroeder for most of the game (3 sacks, 1 quarterback hurry), and Damontae Kazee’s forced fumble was a thing of beauty.

Bruising Hawaii tailback Joey Iosefa gave SDSU some trouble because of his physical running style and how hard he was to bring down. He made guys miss and really just ran right through SDSU’s defense on some plays.